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HEC analysis: One step forward, two steps back?
One step forward, two steps back?
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November: There are all kinds of rumors afloat regarding the Higher Education Commission
(HEC) after Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rahman stepped down as its chairman. There is talk
of its budget being curtailed drastically, forcing it perhaps to abandon most of
its programmes. Then there are fears that the HEC may be taken over by the
Ministry of Education, a move that will result in jeopardizing its independence.
And with it will end Dr Atta-ur-Rahman's era of success in science and
technology. |
The rumors are really frightening for the intelligentsia as
it is the development of technology that leads a country towards being included
in the list of developed countries. Looking back into history, it is evident
that only the nations with advanced technology dominated the scene. Our beloved
Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also emphasised the need for
advanced technology.
Muslims ruled the world for thousand years, then came the
Germans, the British, and now the Americans and the Chinese; merely on the basis
of science and technology.
This is an era of economic development, no
doubt. But the economy of any country depends on the development of science and
technology. And technology is backed by scientific research. Not only that, the
research in other areas such as psychology, economics, politics, etc., also
demands a scientific approach.
There was negligence towards science and
technology in Pakistan during the last half century. Funding for the
universities provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC) was barely
enough to meet employees' salaries and to a very basic level research. Pakistani
researchers and scientists who were competent enough, used to seek jobs in other
countries. No one wanted to join research as a career. There were was a no
availability of databases, no funding for international collaborations, very
little funding for carrying out research work and very few grants for PhD
scholarships. The number of PhDs produced in the country was very
low.
And what was the outcome of this negligence? Our cities are in the
dark, even in the 21st century. Our industry is inefficient. We cannot even
produce small items within the country and have to rely on imports from abroad,
costing us huge amount of foreign exchange. We are at least 100 years behind the
modern world. The developed countries buy our agricultural products at cheap
rates and sell us back the valuable products, produced with the use of advanced
technology, at a very high cost. We are even unable to produce most items needed
for our defense and are constantly looking towards China and other countries to
help us with that. It was even becoming difficult to maintain our nuclear
programme without which our survival is at stake. The Prof Atta-ur-Rahman era
revolutionised scientific and social sciences research in the country. His way
of working as was exemplary. Even our neighboring countries were impressed by
his way of bringing about a revolution in IT and Higher Education
here.
It is unfortunate how some scientists and politicians initiated a
negative campaign against the efforts made by the HEC. It has become a sort of
tradition for our new governments to sabotage even the good deeds of the
previous government without considering the destruction of the system which is
capable of throwing us back by many years. Not investing in the right direction
today will help in our remaining an underdeveloped country forever.
Even
one of the most prestigious science journals Nature (UK) has shown its concern
on the future of science and technology in Pakistan. While appreciating the
efforts made by Prof Atta-ur-Rahman and his team, it has termed his era as the
"silent revolution" in Pakistan. Doing so it also points out that Pakistan may
go back to the stone age if the HEC is neglected or altered.
The HEC has
launched many new and innovative programmes towards enhancing the quality of
higher education here. Human resource development (HRD) and investment in
scientific projects are two important areas crucial for the advancement of
science and technology anywhere.
HRD can be further ivided into two
components:
• Production of high-quality PhDs and post doctorates. The
HEC in this regard has initiated very comprehensive programmes and has
concentrated both on the number and quality of the PhDs produced. There was no
set criteria in the past for maintaining the quality of higher education in the
country. But the HEC established full sections on quality assurance not only in
HEC but also in all the universities of the country.
• Retaining the
eminent researchers in the country is also an extremely important aspect. Not
doing so will result in brain drain. The HEC has taken very positive steps to
counter this situation. In fact it brought back many of our competent
researchers from abroad as foreign faculty who are currently serving in
different universities to improve the standards of education there.
Every
university faculty member must have excellence in academics and research.
University teaching is not a nine-to-five type of a job. The university is a
place where new knowledge emerges and grows which is possible only if one has
peace of mind. One cannot do creative work if has to look for tuitions or some
other small business in the evening to meet the demands of the
family.
One cannot think deeply about the innovations needed in
scientific research without a free mind. What would one do under such
circumstances? Probably just duplicate the old research. And this is what has
been happening here for the last 60 years. The HEC has introduced a tenure track
system under which only highly competent faculty may be recruited and retained
on the basis of expert opinion from foreign countries. This system was designed
to create scientific atmosphere in the universities where faculty members would
prefer working hard in the laboratories rather than go looking for other
jobs.
A strong HRD is also mandatory for our school and college system.
At present we don't have enough competent teachers available for teaching at
these levels. With the HEC programmes, we will have a high quality of MS/PhDs in
various disciplines who can deliver better education in our schools and
colleges.
Judicious investment in scientific research is also mandatory
for achieving excellence in higher education and to become a developed nation,
ultimately. The HEC has initiated many programmes that should be strengthened.
It has a well-documented monitoring system for all of its projects. In science
we cannot be definite about any results, but at least with the efforts made by
the HEC we are moving in a positive direction.
The Ministry of Education
itself has very broad mandate to cover and it should concentrate on school and
college education. Dissolving the HEC or giving it to the Ministry of Education
and restraining its funding will put us back on the path to the Stone
Age.
By Dr Amer Jamil
The writer is associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. (Dawn)
Post your comments
Analysis: Higher education and the HEC
With a new government and a change of leadership at the HEC, this may be a
good time for the HEC to review its own role and more carefully identify the
ways in which it can contribute to improving both quality and access in the
realm of higher education
There has been considerable discussion in
the media over the last few weeks on the performance of the Higher Education
Commission (HEC) under the stewardship of Dr Atta-ur-Rehman. Some of it has
focused a little too stridently on the person of Dr Rehman. What is important,
however, is to learn from the experience of the HEC, not least because our
education system remains in a state of acute crisis.
One lesson that we
should learn from the sharp rise of the budget for higher education, since the
coming into being of the HEC, is that we cannot solve the problems that beset
our education system just by putting more funds into it.
The impression,
deliberate or otherwise, created by the HEC that it was somehow equipped to
transform the higher education system in the country was not entirely accurate.
True, a large number of candidates have been supported by the HEC to work
towards their PhDs. A certain number will doubtless benefit and put the
opportunity to good use. All this is commendable. Equally, there is the issue of
merit and standards, which has been frequently discussed in the media.
A
key question also relates to what kind of institutions of higher education there
are to provide these PhDs or those working towards that end with an enabling
environment in order for them to make a meaningful contribution once they have
their degree.
At another level the HEC effort fell well short in terms of
supporting humanities and the social sciences. Its predisposition towards the
natural sciences was also reflected in the entirely impractical and grandiose
proposal of the kind that led many to wonder whether HEC was often playing to
the gallery: the creation, more or less, simultaneously of not one or two but
nine engineering universities (widely reported in the media). It might be
interesting research for someone to investigate how often and in what
circumstances has any nation managed such a feat.
In a country facing
formidable problems of extremism, intolerance and societal fracturing, it was
not a small omission on the part of the HEC to have considered the social
sciences and the arts to be of only marginal importance. Although it
subsequently tried to correct the sharp imbalance, which is creditable, much
distance remains to be covered still on that count.
The other area that
fell largely outside the ambit of the HEC was that of colleges. Colleges do not
fall under the purview of the HEC but the provinces made no effort to correct
the situation at that level even as HEC was trying to work at the higher end of
education. These institutions just fell through the cracks, as it were.
Here it might also be useful to refer to some of the media discussion
suggesting that the expenditure on higher education was inordinately high
compared to what was spent on basic education. This intra-sectoral wrangling
over meagre resources is simply a distraction. The issue with the expenditure on
higher education as indeed with that on basic education is its effectiveness.
And this has little to do with the argument made popular at one point by the
World Bank suggesting that rates of return for basic education are higher than
those for higher education.
The truth of the matter is that we need to
spend much more on both higher as well as basic education. For the two are far
from unconnected. Nor can reform of basic and higher education be seen
sequentially. Unless the issues of higher education, including at the college
level are addressed, reform of basic education cannot go very far.
After
all, those who can properly teach at this level, write readable and relevant
textbooks, and design appropriate assessment systems that go beyond testing for
memory will all come from the realm of higher education.
All of this is
not say that HEC has not made any difference. Enrolment in the higher education
sector has gone up sharply. But we need to be wary of trading in quality for
numbers. It seems very similar to the situation in the realm of basic education
where again much has been made of sharply higher enrolments and the pursuit of
Education for All within the framework of Millennium Development Goals. But the
level of achievement even as assessed by the National Education Assessment
System (NEAS) is far from encouraging.
We certainly need a much higher
percentage of our population having access to higher education but not at the
expense of minimum standards. To offer access without standards or quality is,
in effect, to offer very little. We have seen how our master's and bachelor's
degrees have been devalued over the years. We should be cautious, lest we end up
doing the same with PhD programmes.
Reservations have been expressed
regarding the selection process for those sent abroad but the problem is clearly
greater with respect to PhD programmes pursued locally. Many institutions have
been quick to enrol students in PhD programmes regardless of faculty available
in the requisite areas of work.
Consider the example of the University
of Education. Having been created in 2002, it had by 2004, in the short span of
a little over two years, already enrolled 181 PhD students and this in a
situation in which the university had only ten faculty members with PhD
qualifications.
Now with a new government and a change of leadership at
the HEC, this may be a good time for the HEC to review its own role and more
carefully identify the ways in which it can contribute to improving both quality
and access in the realm of higher education.
For instance, quality
assurance across a multiplicity of disciplines does not lie within the province
of a centralised mechanism. In any case, a good place for the HEC to start would
be its neighbourhood: enable the Quaid-i-Azam University to become an apex
institution of excellence.
Abbas Rashid
Abbas Rashid lives in Lahore and can be contacted at abbasrh@gmail.com (Daily Times)
Your Comments
"you are right it is very unfortunate that some politicians and scientists are trying to devaluate the tremendous efforts made by HEC in the context of higher education. there is nothing wrong with our basic education but the need is to produce more and more scientists. it is Dr Atta who made a culture of PhD, at least at the moment if not of research, in the country and now one can see that every graduate is trying to get some how a research degree. without research no country can progress but unfortunatly pakistan was pushed back again by some piltical scientists i would say."
Name: Tahir Hussain
Email: pak_biotechnologist@yahoo.com
City, Country: peshawar, pakistan
"I remember an Article appeared in the same site denouncing Dr. Ataurehman about his deeds at the HEC, its polices ,its contribution to the Higher edu. and the mushroom growth of Phds,the futility of such a practice and the sum DR. SAHIB spent within the years he remained as its Boss. He was non other but THE nuclear tecnology dealer MR QADIR THE PROLIFERATION Hero.Atleast some one has come up to tell the truth, besides no body can hide from the sun behind his fingers AS THE FAMOUS PUSHTO proverb say so."
Name: sajjad samad
Email: sajjad_samad@yahoo.com
City, Country: pakistan
"it was a very good and appriciable step by the govt to dismiss Atta Ur Rehaman (a mere courpt and indecent Person). in the name of scholarships, particularly the foreign scholarships many people were sent abroad, most of them relatives or friend of People working in HEC. THe HEC criterion for scholarships its self was biased, supporting symester system, supporting particularly rich people or students from rich universities. HEC command should be given to the ministry of education, and all those PD,s inducted in HEC over the last 5 years should be kicked out. Its name should be changed back to UGC. Probe in to all scholarships cancelled or given be conducted to evaluate favouritism. to mention many scholars were denied for the scholarship just on the last moments, by putting illogical objections. DOWN DOWN ATTA UR REHMAN DOWN DOWN HEC ."
Name: Muhammad Ishaq
Email: mu_ishaq@yahoo.com
City, Country: islamabad, pakistan
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Education News| Updated: 06 Jan, 2009 |
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